I spent a good portion of the night doing my near-yearly cardboard recycling chore. There are few tasks I hate more than this. Last year the basement flooded a bit and I had to don some breathing gear to clean up whatever mildewy moldy creature was concocted by meltwater and cat poop; that was a little worse. Still, I hate doing cardboard.
Since I let this little gem of a job go idle for so long, I am normally swimming in a sea of moist, spidery boxes. What makes this task so maddening - and this is the thought my mind stews on while I rip my fingers apart and cut absurdly long lengths of twine - is that it all seems so unnecessary. There has got to be a better way than the City of Minneapolis approved method. I can imagine Abby and Lily chuckling knowingly when I tell them, years from now, how I used to recycle cardboard; then they'll ask me what cardboard is and what was it like to live during a time when objects were sold with something called "packaging". Then we'll all have a good laugh and go bowling.
Doing the cardboard does have the benefit of seeing a yearlong time capsule of our life as reflected in our waste. I was struck by some interesting boxes. Size 2 diapers. The box for our stroller, which we've almost run into the ground now. The box from my Nikon. Many more diaper boxes.
I came across lots of cardboard trays that come with packs of baby food, and I was struck dumb by the memory of buying baby food for the first time. Standing in the store, we were overwhelmed a bit, but I remember thinking, "Man, they'll be eating this stuff for years." This must have happened only a couple weeks ago, I swear, but now we're not really buying much jar food anymore; they're gleefully happy with avocados, grilled cheese, random vegetables, ground beef, failed aioli paste, etc.
Recycling cardboard. Bet you never thought you could reminisce like that.
Day eighty.
Rerun photos yet again. I will pick up the slack tomorrow.
While this isn't nearly as pithy and interesting as the above, I do know that you can take your cardboard to the UPS store and they will recycle it for you. You don't even have to break it down! I love the pictures, even if they are recycled!
ReplyDeleteNote to self: Always consult Lori before accomplishing any tedious chore.
ReplyDeleteI had no clue UPS would do that. Thanks for the tip! There is a big recycling depot by downtown with a big huge pile of cardboard that you can chuck your stuff on, but loading up all of it and driving out seems like a slightly more annoying task.